The FCC, by a partisan 3-2 vote, today approved the $6.4 billion sale of Tribune Media broadcast stations to Nexstar Media Group. In connection with this transaction, the commission also approved the divestiture to E.W. Scripps and Tegna of stations in 13 markets necessary for Nexstar to come into compliance with the commission’s local and national television ownership rules.
In the Indianapolis and Norfolk markets, the commission found that the transfer of preexisting combinations of two top-four ranked broadcast television stations to Nexstar and Scripps, respectively, would be in the public interest.
Once the deal closes, Nexstar will, by most measures, be the largest station group in the nation with 197 stations in 115 markets covering 63% of TV homes and combined 2019 revenue of $4.4 billion. It will have stations in Chicago, Los Angeles and other major markets for the first time and will be the No. 1 affiliate of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW.
The FCC said it found that the proposed merger would provide several public interest benefits to viewers of current Tribune and Nexstar stations. For example, viewers would benefit from their local stations having increased access to Nexstar’s Washington news bureau and state news bureaus.
At the same time it brings on board three former Tribune execs: Sean Compton, who will head WGN America; Dana Zimmer, who oversees distribution; and Gary Weitman, who is in charge of internal and external communications.
By Mark K. Miller | September 19, 2019 | 4:38 p.m. ET.
Nexstar Media Group on Thursday afternoon announced today that it completed its acquisition of Tribune Media in what it called an accretive transaction valued at approximately $7.2 billion including the assumption of Tribune Media’s outstanding debt.
In addition, it said that three former members of Tribune Media’s senior management team have joined Nexstar, effective immediately:
Sean Compton has been named executive vice president, WGN America, WGN Radio and director of content acquisition. He is responsible for the management of these former Tribune Media properties, as well as the digital multicast television network, Antenna TV and will oversee Nexstar’s programming acquisitions across all television platforms.
Dana Zimmer becomes executive vice president and chief distribution and strategy officer. In her new role, Zimmer is responsible for the distribution and monetization of Nexstar’s broadcast and television content portfolio to cable, satellite, telco and digital media distributors. She will also manage relationships with Nexstar’s network partners at Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC and The CW.
Gary Weitman has been named executive vice president and chief communications officer, responsible for Nexstar’s internal and external communications, media relations, employee communication and the company’s intranet and its website, nexstar.tv.
with the merger now complete, it means for the first time since Belo got bought out by what is now known TEGNA, the DFW market now has a station owned by a locally based company with Nexstar being based in Irving and KDAF being a Dallas station. Belo before the TEGNA/Gannett buyout owned WFAA and the station was their flagship. i don't know of KDAF will become Nexstar's flagship yet.
Wouldn't KTLA be the flagship station for Nexstar its given that LA and NYC tends to be used as reference cities where flagship stations are located. WPIX would be the flagship for Scripps. I know in the past prior to the Nexstar/Tribune deal KRON would have been Nexstar's flagship though.
All,
I want to let you know that today we made the difficult business decision to stop production of CLTV effective at the end of the year. I met with the CLTV staff this morning to let them know.
CLTV has had a great run since it first signed on 26 years ago, in January 1993, but the media landscape has changed dramatically since that time. Back then, there were only four networks, cable news was still in its infancy, and the Internet was just beginning. MSNBC, FOX News, and CNBC didn’t exist and the idea of getting news through a mobile device was unimaginable. There were no local morning news shows, and WGN-TV produced just two newscasts, the Midday News and the WGN News at 9. WGN-TV now produces more than 70 hours of local news per week—more than any other TV station in Chicago.
Unfortunately, with news now available 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week across a variety of multi-media platforms, it has become increasingly difficult for CLTV to hold on to its audience and remain competitive, despite the high-quality of the local journalism it produces. Ending production of CLTV will give us a chance to continue expanding local programming and local news here at WGN-TV. In the first quarter of 2020, we plan to expand weekend news further and add some new local programming focused on sports and politics. I’ll have more info on this expansion early next year.
While there will be a small reduction of staff as a result of today’s decision, most CLTV employees will have the opportunity to apply for open jobs at WGN-TV. For now, please join me in thanking everyone at CLTV for their constant effort and dedication to producing quality local journalism through the years. I am proud to have been a small part of CLTV’s history.
Paul